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Published: August 6th 2008
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USA National Parks 05-07-'08 to 18-07-'08
The following facts and figures are from our tour guide.
California Part 1 Yosemite National Park We made 2 visits to Yosemity National Park, the first with the National Parks tour and once by ourselves to fill in the two uncomitted days in our itinerary after the tour ended. However I will include them both here.
Yosemite had been permanently occupied by one Indian “nation” and seasonally occupied by 2 other “nations”. They resisted the gold prospectors so the troops were sent in. The 2 other nations withdrew but the permanent occupiers continued to resist but were driven into higher country until survival was very difficult. When the chief and his son were shot they gave in and were resettled in a reservation in 1852. But no gold was found at Yosemite!
On the way in we saw a variety of trees including Cedars and Sequoias. The valley walls get steeper and higher until El Capitan comes into view on the left. It is a 1,000 m (3,300 ft) vertical bluff that took 8 days to climb the first time and about 3 to 5 days to climb now.
However a speed climber in 1997 climbed it in 2 ¾ hours. On the right side of the valley is Bridal Veil Falls which is best viewed from the Tunnel View parking area. Although the water flow was diminished at this time of year it was still an impressive water fall. To add to its beauty the late afternoon sun (about 4 pm) produced a rainbow on the falls.
The Yosemite Lodge stored our luggage until we could transfer to the Yosemite View Lodge, which was something of a misnomer because it was outside the park and was on the Merced river. It was not a good experience because the YARTS bus driver was in a bad mood and asked whether we wanted to go to the Yosemite View Lodge or the River View Lodge. We were confused so I went forward in the bus to clarify it but was told that I was breaking the law and no one is allowed to move while the bus was in motion. It turns out that there is no River View Lodge. We got our room keys at the Lodge reception but we were hot and tired and it was a
long walk uphill to drag our luggage to the Lodge block that we were to be in. To make matters worse the man at reception said that there was an elevator for us to go up in. Wrong. We had to drag the luggage up the stairs. However the unit was well appointed with self catering facilities and there was a small balcony for us to eat our meals on while looking at the rapids in the river.
Yosemite is 94% wilderness and ranges in height from 600 m (2,000 ft) to 3,900 m (13,000 ft). There are 4 million visitors per year. A few years ago an El Nino caused warm summer winds and the ice and snow melted producing floods in the valley. The Yosemite View Lodge has been built on the narrow river flood plain so I expect that it was flooded. There was a notice in the room advising what to do it there was a flood.
We ate lunch at the Yosemite Lodge where there are outside seats, a good restaurant and lots of ground squirrels. There are signs not to feed them but some do. The squirrels are very tame and will
eat out of a feeders hands, but will also eat out of their lunch bags if given half a chance. There were also some blue Stellars Jays there.
The Yosemite Falls were near the Lodge and were still running but at reduced flow. We suspect the flow rate reduced during the time that we were there. At 739 m (2,425 ft) in 3 tiers it is considered to be amongst the highest in the world.
We walked to the viewoing place near foot of the lower Yosemite Falls. It was a long way to the top. There were lots of people there and some had climbed to the foot of the lower falls. Others were swimming in the river - they must have been freezing. We took a walk along a trail that seemed to be on our map. It went along the foot of the mountain through the forest and only had a few people on it. Pleasant, but it really didn't go anywhere except around the backs of the properties.
The bus to the 2199 m (7,214 ft) Glacier Point was worth it. The view was superb. The bus driver drove very smoothly and on
one tight, left hand bend, with a drop of several thousand feet or so down from the unprotected edge, he advised everyone to lean to the left.
We had a good view of the properties below, 3 valleys, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, Half Dome with people on it, Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls. The one hour there was not enough. The next day we took the free shuttle bus around its route but got out and walked the last part back in an effort to find where we had been on Glacer Point. We eventually found it.
Then back to San Fancisco in a bus driven by perhaps the jerkiest driver I have sat behind.
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Esther
non-member comment
Wow! You got some spectacular shots! I can just imagine how cross you were about being told off on the bus!